Andrew and Eleanor are now six months actual age and three months adjusted age. At this point, I try not to get too anxious about Andrew’s milestone delays. But the one milestone I really, really, really, really, reeeeeeeally wanted to see happen with Andrew was the first smile. And not just the “hmm, was that reflux?” kind of a smile, but a smile of genuine happiness. Eleanor started smiling around mid-September. These days, all I have to do is just glance at her and she busts out with this:

Oh, how I’ve been yearning for an Andrew smile.

Last weekend, Andrew was being held by his father and it happened. He smiled. REALLY BIG. Twice. My heart just about melted into a gooey pile of smiley goodness.

Since then, Andrew has been rather spare with how often he doles out the smiles–once a day, at most. He knows the value of his smile and can really make a person work for it. As a result, I’ve spent a lot of time lately holding him in my lap and making the most ridiculous sounds and facial expressions. Most of the time, I get something like this:

Sometimes, if I’m lucky, I’ll get this:

Andrew and his half smile. Such a tease.

But once a day, or so, he’ll reward my efforts with this:

And the day suddenly becomes so much brighter :).

Aside from the obvious reasons why a parent would be thrilled that their child has hit the smiling milestone, there are also a few developmental reasons. For Andrew, it means that he can see (I don’t take his sight for granted!), can mimic facial expressions (which requires the voluntary use of facial muscles), and that it bodes well in terms of his capabilities of learning to interact socially.